Groundhog Pete
by Kimnd
Summary: Well, Gary got shipped off to an insanity asylum where he'll probably get way worse before he gets any better, you're going to have to spend the next three years keeping people from getting into fights, and… well… let's face it, I doubt any title is going to get me any respect or anything. (Contains mild drug themes and swearing.)
1. Welcome to Bullworth

Loop Zero

Pete was ripped from a pleasant dream by a gentle dive-bomb to his vital organs. "HOOF OW!" _Well, that's one way to wake up._

"Rise and shine, Feme-boy!" Pete groaned in pain, trying to shake off the dregs of sleep that still clung to his brain. "Time for another fun-filled week of the highest-quality education available to donkeys anywhere!" As far as Pete could tell, Gary thought that a stream of insults was the best way to wake up. _Ughh… what's so wrong with listening to the radio in the morning?_

Pete just turned over in response to his roommate's greeting. Consequently, Gary whipped his quilt onto the floor, making him curl up into himself trying to retain the warmth of sleep. "Come _on_ , Petey, you can always get back to your stupid, girly fantasies later, mmkay?" _Why does he sound so_ chipper _, ughhh…_

Pete raised his head, groaning out, "Okay, okay, I'm up..." Gary must've taken him at his word, since Pete could hear him droning on about something as his head hit the pillow again. _Thank God_. _Geze, does Gary wake up at some ungodly hour and just wait to make me get up?_

Pete mumbled an "Mm-hm" so that Gary would assume he was still listening. Hazarding a glance at his watch, he found that, yep, right before seven. _Sigh_. "…new kid we were discussing? Hopkins?"

 _What now?_ "Huh?" Pete glanced up, and Gary was actually looking at him and seemed to expect a response. "Oh um…" He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember. _That does sound kinda famili—Oh yeah,_ "That kid who's been kicked out of, like, a bazillion schools?" Pete yawned, and figured he'd better get out of bed if he wanted to avoid just falling back to sleep. "What about him?"

"Well—" Gary's voice became slightly muffled as he pulled his shirt on over his head. "Rumor has it that he's going to be arriving here _today_." Gary's face popped through his shirt sporting one of the largest grins Pete had ever seen. "Doesn't that sound exciting, Petey?" He was about to voice his agreement, but Gary didn't give him the chance. "Knowing this school, I already know how to get him on my good side. If everything goes well, I might even be able to get him to not hate you, Feme-boy!" Gary looked up from his packing to give Pete an appraising look before smirking. "Well, at least keep him from wanting to kick your head in."

Pete just rolled his eyes. _Because there's just a line of people who want to beat the shit out of me for some reason._ "Whatever, Gary." And he finally pushed himself up so he could swing his legs out of bed to get ready for the day.

Gary shook his head, tsking. "Really, Petey? Don't you have anything _better_ to say?" Pete would've responded, but he was interrupted by a large yawn. "Honestly Petey, you should show a little more gratitude!" _…what the hell is he talking about?_ He watched Gary throw the last book into his pack with a huff through one eye, trying to rub the sleep out of the other. Gary threw the bag over his shoulder as he stood, speaking as if Pete were being the ridiculous one here. "Not a lot of people would be willing to take you under their wing like I have, you know." He then mock-fluttered his eyelashes in Pete's direction, smirking all the while.

Pete rolled his eyes at the 'flirting', but couldn't stop himself from saying under his breath. "Yeah, who wouldn't want somebody else constantly following them around, making fun of them…" He started fumbling with the latch on his wardrobe, trying to wake himself up enough to get dressed.

Gary was strangely silent after that, which made Pete turn toward him nervously. Gary was frowning at him—he said in a far less jovial tone "Wow, Petey—that's rather mean of you to say. Do you talk to all your friends like that, or am I just special?" He blinked, a little surprised. _Since when were Gary and I friends?_ But before he could reply, Gary held up a hand and turned dramatically toward the door, like he had better things to do. "Know what, don't bother, Feme-boy. I'll just assume you're PSMing." Pete groaned, glaring at him out of the corner of his eye, but what was he going to do about it? Gary grinned when he saw Pete's glare as he walked out the door, waving cheerily before he took his leave.

Pete sighed. _Good riddance._ He didn't _hate_ Gary, but being around him for too long, or too early in the morning, tended to make Pete's head hurt. He'd only been here for two weeks and it felt like Gary never left him alone. He started to tug his PJs off, reflecting on what Gary had been talking about. _Hm, so the new kid is coming today? He sounds really tough, what with all those rumors of him getting into fights and stuff._ _What was his name again? Jack? No, it was Jimmy._ Why this Jimmy would _want_ to beat him up didn't seem to have crossed Gary mind.

Although… lately, Pete had noticed that people were acting differently towards him. _People really haven't been talking to me much… man, I knew making friends was going to be hard, but nobody at this stupid school will even talk to me._ He frowned at the discolored shirt he had to wear for his uniform now—he hadn't even been able to get a word in before Gary had started listing off possible nick-names. _Well, except for Gary._ _Wonder what he would've called me if I'd left a blue or green sock in the wash instead of a red one…_ That thought was enough to get him to actually put the stupid thing on.

Pete's train of thought returned to the new kid. Maybe this Jimmy would turn out to be nice? Pete doubted that. Even if only a few of the rumors about Jimmy turned out to be true, it was clear that he was coming to Bullworth because he was being forced to, not transferring here out of choice. That didn't really bode well for his attitude coming here. _Still, that doesn't mean he's a terrible person or anything._

The rumors about Jimmy said otherwise, of course. If Pete did believe all the stuff the students were saying about Jimmy, he'd have to believe that Jimmy had: Beat up a classmate so badly that he had to walk with crutches, beat up a gang member with his own wrench (Gary said the Greasers found that rumor particularly insulting for some reason), beat up a _teacher_ so badly that he had to walk with crutches, gotten expelled for covering his classroom with peanut butter, _and_ broken the collarbone of a teacher (not the one with the crutches, apparently) because they'd been hitting on a girl he liked.

Naturally, Pete was skeptical about the legitimacy of most of these rumors (like, seriously? Peanut butter?), but enough of them were circulating to get most of the kids in school pretty scared of this Jimmy. _Which means most of the kids hate him already, even though they've never even met him..._ Pete thought this all over as he started packing things into his own backpack for the day, sighing. _That really isn't fair to Jimmy. Nobody's even gonna give him much of a chance, since everybody around here seems to buy into the rumor mill whole-hog..._ He couldn't imagine arriving at a place where complete strangers had already decided they hated him.

 _Just coming here was scary enough…_ He didn't really talk with the kids who lived around here much, and he'd only ever seen most of the kids who lived on-campus just in passing around town. It wasn't that Pete didn't like people or anything, it was just that talking to people he didn't know tended to fray his nerves. Gary was the exact opposite—the first time he'd seen Gary in the dorm, he had been sitting on the couch, listening in on every conversation in the common room just enough so that he could butt into four conversations at once.

Pete chuckled to himself a little at the memory. Gary could be pretty funny sometimes, even if his sense of humor ran far darker than Pete's own. Luckily, Gary didn't seem as horrible a person as the rumors he'd heard over the summer suggested. He _had_ taken Pete under his wing, showing him the ins-and-outs of the cliques, sitting with him in the cafeteria, stuff like that. Which was no small thing—moving from home-school to a regular school was tough enough, so having somebody he at least knew in passing was… comforting. And, honestly, as far as nick-names go, it could really be a lot worse than 'Feme-boy'.

Eventually, his train of thought drifted back to the new kid as he zipped up his book bag. Gary seemed pretty keen on befriending him; he hadn't talked about anything else since the rumor started circulating. _I bet we can all be friends!_ Pete found a smile on his face despite himself, and let that thought lighten his steps a bit as he opened the door to the hallway.

Ha. If he had only known what was to come.

The dorm common area had finally emptied out long after the sun had stopped lighting the grime-encrusted windows and the "SKOOLZ OWT 4 EVAH!" banner somebody had hung up. Pete usually didn't stay up this late, but Jimmy kept dragging him back to hear various people's stories, praise, and just making him participate in the general celebration. And hey, it _was_ a party—Pete didn't get to go to one this big very often. And even though all he'd really wanted was to go to sleep, at least Jimmy was trying to include him.

But he and Jimmy were the only people up now—even that guy with the sleep problems appeared to have passed out on the couch. Pete was picking through the leftover snacks on the poker table, and Jimmy was doing that leaning-against-the-wall-while-sitting-in-a-chair thing. "Wow, what a day, eh Petey?"

Pete smiled wryly. "Ha, I think that's a bit of an understatement." Jimmy laughed as Pete extracted a licorice stick from under the pile of junk food and sat down silently looking over the common room.

"Haha, yeah, for sure!" Nothing was said for a couple minutes, and Jimmy noticed Pete looked pretty pensive. "…how come you're so quiet? Aren't you happy we won?"

Pete started at that. "What do you mean, 'we won'?" He looked at Jimmy in mild confusion.

Jimmy reflected Pete's own look of confusion "Whad'ya mean, 'what do I mean'? We beat Gary! He got shipped off to Happy Volts, you're fuckin' Head Boy, the cliques've been dissolved, we won!" Jimmy's eyes narrowed in what could have easily been annoyance or confusion. "What, are you still looking out for that girlfriend?"

"What? No, no, not that, it's just…" Pete started counting his points off finger-by-finger. "Well, Gary got shipped off to an insanity asylum where he'll probably get way worse before he gets any better, you're going to have to spend the next three years keeping people from getting into fights, and… well…" Pete sighed, letting his hand drop. "Let's face it, I doubt _any_ title is going to get me any respect or anything."

Jimmy scrutinized Pete a little before snorting. "Geze, Petey, that's kinda harsh."

Pete shrugged, chuckling dryly as he looked back up at Jimmy from boring a hole in the rug. "If I've learned anything from attending this school, 'the world is harsh' is it." Jimmy gave a _that's fair_ shrug. Pete looked down, sighing. "I guess I just don't feel like anybody really _won_. I mean, I don't know about you, but don't you wish Gary hadn't been so crazy and had just stayed friends with us?"

Jimmy crossed his arms, glaring at the snack pile. "I'd never be friends with that motherfucker."

Pete nodded sympathetically. "I know what you mean, but what if Gary had never betrayed you? What would have happened? Could we have convinced Gary we really were his friends?" Jimmy laughed harshly at that, giving Pete a patronizing glance. "What?"

"Come on, man—" Jimmy shook his head at Pete's apparent naiveté, "Gary _never_ thought we were friends. He just wanted to use us to take over the school."

Pete shook his head, turning his body in Jimmy's direction, trying to convey his idea. "But that's the thing… I get why he'd want to use _you_ , but why would he want to use me?" Jimmy's amusement disappeared as Pete let his words sink in. A few moments later he continued, "I mean sure, Gary and I had met before this year started, but I didn't know him that well—I certainly wouldn't call us 'friends'. He just kinda pushed me around whenever we came into contact around town. But we _had_ talked before, and he knew I couldn't fight or anything." Pete then gave Jimmy a questioning look. "So then why would Gary start planning this… thing, to somehow include me?"

Jimmy wasn't sure what to say to that. "Come on, who wouldn't want you on their side?"

Pete threw his hands up in a mock-shrug. "Uh, somebody who needed to beat up more than half the school in order to accomplish their goal? I'm just saying, _Peter Kowalski_ is a terrible choice if you're trying to control a school full of people who're really good at punching each other. For somebody who's so smart, you'd think that Gary would want somebody who was, I dunno, good at networking, like Christy, or somebody who's good at tactics, like one of the Nerds."

Jimmy replied slowly "I guess? …So what're you sayin'?"

Pete sighed, leaning back as if his little rant had exhausted him. "I dunno. I guess I just want to know _why_ all the crazy shit this year happened." Pete looked over at Jimmy. "Don't you want to know why?"

Jimmy shrugged, reaching for a candy bar. "I don't really care. I mean, isn't Gary being a fucking asshole explanation enough?"

Pete shook his head. "Yeah, he's an asshole, but he's _smart_ about it. He's only openly douchey to people who are too weak to be a problem for him, like me, or that he thinks are too 'dumb' to care, like you." Jimmy paused in ripping the wrapping off the bar to give him a glare, and Pete was quick to back-pedal. "Not that you are, obviously! I'm just trying to think the way that Gary would."

Jimmy rolled his eyes and took a bite out of the candy bar. "Why fhe hewl wood 'ou wanna do 'at, Petey?"

Pete flinched at the flecks of candy bar that nearly hit the table. "Um… why would I want to do that? To find out _why_ Gary did what he did. Why would he think any of this was a good idea? It just… doesn't make any sense. He must've known it couldn't last." Pete sighed again, looking back down at the floor. "…I guess I just want to know if I could've done anything different to help."

The two friends sat in silence processing those words for a few seconds before Jimmy thumped Pete cordially on the back. He let out what could only be described as a startled squeak, which Jimmy found funny but had the courtesy to resist commenting on. "Sorry, Petey. Forget my own strength, sometimes."

" 'sokay. Thanks for trying to make me feel better, anyway." Pete yawned and looked at his watch. "Dang, it's getting late—I still gotta pack up for tomorrow." He stood up as Jimmy yawned. "I think I'm gonna head to bed."

Jimmy stood up and stretched as well. "Yeah I gotta get some shut-eye too—" Jimmy looked over at Pete. "You still got my number?"

Pete grinned and nodded. "Yep! You've got my address, right?" Jimmy nodded back.

"Yeah. Hey, in case I don't see you tomorrow, have a great summer." Jimmy's face softened to look less angry than it normally did, and Pete was pretty sure he was trying to smile. He appreciated the effort.

"You too, man. See ya!" The two boys then split up, walking to their respective rooms.

Pete shut the door as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake anybody. He let out a breath, and wandered over to his wardrobe to start changing into his PJs. In the meantime, he studied all the stuff he had accumulated over the last… _Wow, was it really only eight months? Felt like forever_. It wasn't as much as what Jimmy had managed to amass in his room, but he still had a few things—some Grottos and Gremlins cards he had found lying around, some of the drawings he was particularly proud of, other knick-knacks. It wasn't home of course, but it felt lived-in. _I'm almost sad to have to leave. Emphasis on_ almost.

Pulling on his pajamas, Pete found himself examining Gary's side of their room. _Kinda weird that he's not here_. He had almost always been in the room whenever Pete happened to be here these last few months, but he had tried to get out a little more—partly trying to avoid Gary, partly trying to get Jimmy to stop messing around and listen to him. So he wasn't sure just how much time Gary had spent in the room. Judging by the yelling match on the roof today, it had been a _lot_.

Looking at Gary's stuff without him there actually made Pete realize how...generic it was. _It's like one of those showrooms in IKEA_. Pete couldn't even say for sure if _anything_ about Gary's side of the room was different from the start of the year. _Did he really just sit in his room this whole time?_ He shook his head, sighing. _Oh well… I guess there's nothing that I can do about it now. Maybe Gary really will get better at Happy Volts…_

Pete really didn't believe that. He'd seen the way they treated children in this town, and he doubted that they would treat the mentally compromised all that much better. _Still…can't dwell on the past._ Pete finally got into bed, turning the lamp off with a snap. _Nothing you can do about it, Petey._

Peter Kowalski fell asleep Saturday, June 2nd, 2007. It'd been a _very_ long year.


	2. Slingshot

Loop One

Pete was awakened the next day by a gentle dive-bomb to his vital organs. "OOF JESUS" He didn't really register the cackling that accompanied his rude wake-up call.

"Rise and shine, Feme-boy!" _Wait…_ he forced his eyes open at that familiar nick-name. "Time for another fun-filled week of the highest-quality education available to donkeys anywhere!" _…What?_

Gary finally got off of Pete, berating him as usual. "Come _on_ , Petey, you can always get back to your stupid, girly fantasies later, mmkay?" As his brain struggled to catch up to what was going on, Gary turned away, walking over to his wardrobe. "You know, Petey," _What_ "I've got a good feeling about today." _Whaaaaat_ "You know that new kid we were discussing? Hopkins?" Gary then glanced back at Pete, whose mouth had been hanging open like a fish for the last thirty seconds. He raised one eyebrow as he pulled his arms through his shirt. "…come on, Petey, I know you're madly in love with me but really—it's not polite to stare."

Pete couldn't believe it. How did Gary even get back in the building? "What… but… you… wha- what're you doing here?" Gary frowned as he started buttoning said shirt.

"Geze, Petey, I _live_ here, keep up." He dipped his head while he buttoned up the rest of his shirt, saying as he did so "Now, as I was saying, Hopkins is rumored to arrive today. Pretty exciting stuff, no?" Finally finished, he looked up at Pete with a lop-sided grin while he reached out to grab his vest.

Pete's mind was still occupied with what-the-fuckery, leaving his mouth little to work with in the way of intelligent conversation: "…um." Gary full-on glared at Pete as his head popped through his vest.

"Jesus Petey, what's with you? You sound even more annoyingly girly than usual." Suddenly his face lit up and he grinned evilly. "Oh, did poor, innocent Feme-boy have a bad dream?" Straightening up from packing up his books, he started walking over to Pete, grinning wider all the time. "Want me to _hold_ you, hm? Aw, or kiss you and make it _better_?—"

Pete had no idea what was going on, but he was having none of this teasing bullshit. "Gary, what are you _doing_ here? Aren't you supposed to be in… you know, Happy Volts?" Gary's grin evaporated immediately.

All cold anger, Gary hissed, "What the _fuck_ 're you _talking_ about, Kowalski?" Pete was clearly treading in dangerous waters, but he needed to know what was going on!

"Y-you and Jimmy fought yesterday?" Pete decided to skootch to the end of the bed, just to be on the safe side. "Don't you remember?"

Now Gary just looked… confused. That was weird. "Who?" He seemed to suddenly realize something, but the confusion only seemed to deepen, narrowing his eyes at Pete in suspicion. "You mean the new kid?"

"Well, I guess?… I mean, he's been here nearly eight months, he's not exactly 'the new kid' anymore…" Gary seemed to be trying to ascertain whether Pete was bullshitting him or not. _What is going on!?_

"…No. I don't remember that. Hopkins hasn't even started attending this school yet, Petey, as I literally _just_ mentioned." He shook his head, deciding that Pete must be the loony one, and turned back to packing up his stuff. "I can't tell if you need some of my meds, or if you need to stop taking them, Petey." Apparently he'd finished, because he straightened up and started heading for the door. "Welp, I'm gonna head out. Try and not hallucinate anymore imaginary boyfriends, m'kay?" Gary waved merrily to Pete as he strolled out the door, shutting it behind him.

The normal waking-up noises of the boy's dormitory were all around Pete, and it sounded like any other day at Bullworth Academy. The familiar hum of misery and noise only amplified the confusing thoughts in Pete's head. _Why the hell did Gary come back?_ Was he suffering from some kind of amnesia?Had he somehow become so deluded that he forgot about yesterday? _Am_ I _crazy?_

Pete shook his head for a moment, trying to stop the despair-spiral of thoughts he could feel coming. _Pete, calm down. Take three deep breaths, then think logically about what you need to do. …in…out. …in…out. …in…out. Phew. Okay_. Gary being back… was big news. Somebody in a position of authority needed to know. But there weren't any adults in the dorms. _I guess the closest thing to 'authority' in the dorms is Jimmy._ Not the ideal person, but Jimmy would have to find out eventually.

As he got up to throw some clothes on, Pete just hoped beyond hope that Jimmy wouldn't be too harsh to Gary. He was obviously completely deluded, or in denial, or _something_. _Happy Volts must be_ horrible _for him to be fooling himself this much…_ Pete decided not to think about it too hard.

Finally slipping out into the hallway, he just saw the usual traffic of kids getting ready for the day. No sign of Gary; he breathed a sigh of relief. _Thank God_. Pete opted to take the stairs closest to Jimmy's room, rather than his usual route to get downstairs. As usual, Jimmy's door was wide open. Pete never knew why Jimmy liked having the door open, but hey, it was his room. Pete knocked a couple times for politeness's sake, but hey, this situation was a little pressing. "Uh, hey Jimmy?" Jimmy's head snapped up, and he started glaring at Pete. _Must've had a bad night's sleep._ "Sorry, it's just that—"

"Wha'd _you_ want?" He flinched at the clear hostility in that question. That's odd, Jimmy wasn't always _nice_ to him, but he was never threatening…

Pete shuffled tentatively into the room. Which, come to think of it, looked kind of… empty? "Hey, what happened to your stuff?" Jimmy's room was usually crammed full of trophies and nick-knacks, along with general junk lying on the floor.

"What? Hey, I asked you a fucking _question_ ,kid! What the hell do you _want_?" He suddenly stood up from the bed and moved over to Pete like he was freakin' _challenging_ him! _What the heck!?_

"I-I was just—" why was Jimmy so mad at him?

"Ooh my, isn't the new kid _scary!_ " And now Gary was here, and it was probably going to get violent, fast. Pete backed as far away from the pair as he could get. _Here we go_. "Come on, pal, give up the tough-guy act."

Jimmy frowned, glaring at Gary who, unsurprisingly, was sporting a wide grin. "Hey man, what's your problem?" Pete frowned. What was he _doing_? He'd just spent yesterday telling _Gary_ what his problem was.

"Well, ADD primarily…" Gary started wandering over to where Pete was, and he wasn't really sure what to do. If they weren't going to fight, he figured he didn't really have anything to worry about. But hadn't they had this conversation before? "…But really, honestly, enough about me—Ah, I see you've met the dorm's mascot!" Gary flung his arm around Pete's shoulder, and he _knew_ this had happened before. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Feme-Boy! The—" _This was the_ exact _thing Gary said and did!_ "— **girliest** boy in school." He ducked out of Gary's arm before lightly shoving him away.

"Uhhh look, I don't know what's going on guys, but—" Pete backed away, looking from Jimmy to Gary and back, "Ahaha, this is getting a liiiittle creepy." Jimmy just looked angry and confused (which was his norm, to be honest) but Gary was scrutinizing Pete and it was kinda creeping him out.

"…Come now, Petey, don't call the new kid creepy!" Gary looked Jimmy up and down as if examining him, mock-picking up his hand and inspecting it before he shrugged. "Sure, he looks like he's on a one-way track to prison…" He ignored Jimmy's angry glare as he snatched his hand back, instead crossing his arms and shaking his head at Pete—as if he was disappointed in him. "…but you really shouldn't make snap judgements like that."

Jimmy looked pretty pissed, interrupting with, "Hey, I gotta unpack. Why don't you two fuckwads beat it, huh?" _He didn't say it like that last time… Did he?_

Gary grinned as he started for the door, Pete on his heels. "Haha, now look what you've done Pete! Jimmy hates you _already_." _Does he?_ Pete looked at Jimmy—he did look pretty mad.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I offended you Jimmy, I didn't mean to." Wrong thing to say, apparently. Jimmy looked ready to punch his lights out.

" **Stop** calling me Jimmy!" He accentuated his point by slamming his hands on either side of Pete's head. "I don't even fuckin' _know_ you, kid. Where the hell did you learn my name!?" Jimmy was clearly prepared to _beat_ him should he try and get away. He had forgotten that his friend could be utterly terrifying when he wanted to.

"IdontreallyknowwhatsgoingonImsosorrypleasedontkillme—"

"Whoa, whoa, ladies, break it up!" Gary lightly pushed Jimmy away from the wall, getting him to refocus his attention on Gary, and Pete tried to calm himself down. His friend looking like he was about to _kill_ him was not something Pete would be forgetting anytime soon. "Really, James, your name has been on quite a few people's lips lately." Pete looked between the two of them. This was the beginning of the school year…

Jimmy continued to look angry. "Yeah? Like who?"

Gary just shrugged in a non-committal manner. "Oh, everybody. People loooove to talk in this town, Jimmy-boy." _Did… did I go back in time?_ A sudden yank on his forearm broke Pete's train of thought, and nearly sent him face-planting on the floor. "Anyhow, we'll get out of your way, _James_. See you at school in a few!" Then, Pete was basically dragged down the hallway and flung against one of the walls separating the common room from the rest of the hall.

"Jesus, Kowalski. It's almost amazing how pathetic you are." Pete couldn't see Gary's expression, but his voice sounded absolutely disgusted. Gary crossed his arms and leaned against the wall next to where Pete had collapsed, waiting for him to get up. "I mean, seriously, Hopkins didn't even _do_ anything to you and you're crying like a fucking faucet."

 _What?_ Pete felt his face, and sure enough, it was pretty wet. "…Oh." No wonder he couldn't catch his breath very well. Pete turned to sit against the wall, trying to deep breathe. …in…out. …in…out. …i—his mantra was interrupted by very loud laughter.

"AHAHAHA Oh my God, you didn't even realize you were crying like a little girl?" Pete looked up, and Gary was grinning and staring at him as if he'd won the lottery.

Now Pete felt embarrassed. But what could he even say? He just tried to ignore Gary, but of course he took Pete's silence as confirmation. He immediately doubled-over laughing. "Ohahaha that is… oh man, that's priceless! Ehehehe…"

"Haha, are you fucking crying, pink-shirt kid?" Pete sighed. Great, just what he needed, _another_ person to bully him. That orange-haired Bully was grinning down at his, apparently, tear-streaked face. Turning, he yelled "Oi, Wade, check out this _loser!_ " _You have got to be_ kidding _me!_

Pete scrambled to his feet and made a beeline for his room. He heard a "—Feme-boy…" from behind, but Pete needed a few minutes to himself to think about what the heck was going on. _Maybe a few_ years…

After shutting the door to his room so he could tear through all his binders and filing-cabinets, he had found: almost none of the work he'd done throughout the year, _any_ of the drawings he'd made, trading cards he'd found or nick-knacks he'd received throughout the year, and he'd even looked at his watch, which said the date was September 9th, 2006. With all this evidence, Pete had come to the conclusion that he had gone back in time. …somehow.

 _I must be crazy… I_ have _to be crazy, ri—no. No, Pete, just… just go to class. Think about something else for a while, then tackle this later._ He shook his head, and—stuffing some of his books into his backpack—went out the door.

A couple seconds later, he re-entered the room, realizing that if he _had_ gone back in time, he'd need his first-semester class books, not the second-semester classes. _This is going to be weird._

Pete held the Boy's dorm door for a couple of people (nobody said 'thank you') before he was able to walk into the brisk, autumn air himself. As he weaved between students screaming, crying, yelling, and/or being generally threatening, he stewed on how it was amazing to think that just a day ago all these kids had been fighting each other like wild animals.

 _Well, I guess they… didn't do that. They_ will _be fighting each other? Whatever—focus Pete—if I assume that I_ didn't _hallucinate an entire school year, what does this even mean?_ The din of the school lobby gave Pete plenty of white-noise in which to think clearly. _Okay, so… does this mean that somebody sent me back in time to try and change how the school year turns out?_ That made some kind of logical sense, even if he had no idea who would be able to send somebody _through time_ , he could certainly think of plenty of people with the motivation to do so. The school year had been a pretty shitty one for lots of people.

As he entered the cafeteria, Gary's voice reached his ears. Turning around, he saw Gary and Jimmy talking, or, well, Gary talking, and Jimmy providing occasional comments. "…and condescending attitudes!"

"Yeah, massively inbred and completely brainless." Pete noticed Gary smile approvingly as he walked over automatically, still lost in his own thoughts.

"Very observant, Jimmy-boy. Now over there… oh, hell-OH Feme-boy!" Pete sighed to himself. _Honestly, Pete, what did you even come over for—to ask for advice on time travel?_ "You finally finish _crying_ to your _mommy?_ " Gary emphasized his words by punching him twice, and even though he'd kind of been expecting it, he still managed to flinch horribly.

"Ow! Oof! Yeah, yeah, I'm done crying." Pete rubbed the arm that Gary had punched. _That's definitely going to bruise_. Out of the corner of his eye, Pete saw Gary turn to Jimmy, who was looking…a little awkward, actually.

"Can you believe this little _girl_ " Gary reached out to pinch Pete's cheek like some sadistic grandmother, ignoring his squeak of pain to continue his tale. "…was _crying_ about you not liking him?"

Jimmy glared Gary in the eye for a bit before looking at Pete as he stopped rubbing his arm, trying to not seem like too big a wimp. He seemed to reach a conclusion because he replied "Yeah, actually." He, shrugged, adding "I can believe that."

Pete shuffled his feet, and figured he might as well try and apologize to Jimmy—he wanted to keep being friends with him, after all. _Even if that was just a hallucination_. "Look, I'm sorry about freaking you out back there—I wasn't thinking about how weird it would sound that I knew your name."

Jimmy shrugged, breaking eye-contact with Pete to stare at his feet and kick some imaginary dust off to the side. "'scool. Look, I'm… sorry for… you know." He looked back up at Pete. "We cool?"

Pete smiled. _Maybe this won't be so bad!_ "Yeah, it- OOF" _Oh that's right, I forgot about Gary._

"Aww isn't this cute. In fact, I think I might be tearing up." Gary gave a huge sniff as if he were crying. Pete just sighed. _And it had been going so well._ BRRRRRING! Gary stopped mock-crying, looking up at the bell in annoyance. "…I suppose we'll need to continue this heart-to-heart later." He finally unhooked his arm from around Pete's neck, and, waving good-by to Jimmy and blowing an imaginary kiss to Pete, he disappeared into the departing throng of students. … _oh crap!_ In all the excitement, he had forgotten about class. Where was he supposed to be, again?

As students streamed past them, Jimmy and Pete both stood looking a little lost. _That's right, Jimmy probably doesn't even know where any of his classes are_. "What's your first class, Jimmy? I can show you where the room is, if you want."

Jimmy looked as relieved as somebody with chronic bitch-face can look. "Yeah, all they told me was that my first class is Chemistry. Didn't even fuckin' tell me where the room is."

"That's actually not very far from here." The two followed the stream of students out the door of the cafeteria, as Pete started to get recollections from the 'previous' year. "You know, I think Chem is my first class, too." _I do remember being in Chem with Jimmy a couple times… He advanced pretty fast._

Jimmy wasn't paying Pete much attention, looking instead to a Greaser spray-painting MONEY DON'T BUY CLASS on the back of the stairs. "Huh. Where'd he get that spray-paint?"

Pete raised an eyebrow as he adjusted a strap on his backpack, looking at Jimmy out the corner of his eye. _What does he mean?_ "Probably an art store?…"

Jimmy snorted as the Greaser ran from a Prefect as they walked past. "No age limit, huh?"

 _Huh?_ "What do you mean? An age limit on… paint?" Pete felt a little tug of sympathy at such a damper on artistic potential—when he was little his mom had loved laying down a giant piece of paper in the backyard so the two of them could throw paint around and see what it looked like. _That's kinda sad…_

Pete followed Jimmy into the room for Chemistry 1, leaving him to peer around at the room and wrinkle his nose at the horrible odor that permeated the space. "Yeah, California makes you show ID to buy that kinda stuff. Like cigarettes and lottery tickets." _Wow, have Jimmy and I really never talked about where he was from?_

As the teacher yelled at the students for entering the classroom, Pete just tried to keep the conversation going. "I, uh, didn't know that was a thing. Actually," as they talked Pete started organizing the chemicals they would need for the day as the teacher wrote them on the board, cocking his head as he thought, "Now that I think about it, there _could_ be a legal age here—I've never tried to buy spray-paint."

Jimmy snorted and gave a small shrug as if to say _fair enough_. But the teacher then began to give them their instructions at top speed, forcing the two boys to concentrate on their work.

Two and a half hours later, Pete finally sat down to eat lunch. Instead of eating it, though, he just stared at it. _I'm really back at the start of the school year._ This had been bubbling at the back of his mind all through the morning's classes. Pete looked around at all the kids who were sitting with their friends, talking, laughing. Images of Townies cracking wooden bats over the heads of Greasers and Nerds cackling madly as a small throng of Jocks were thrown high in the air from an explosion flashed through his head. _They have no idea how crazy this year can get. None._

 _Just like me last… year? Last time? Previously?_ He looked back down at his miserable-looking sandwich. _Last… try. It's like I'm being given a free life in a video game or something._ As he ate, the chewing at least giving him something to do, he thought. _I'll probably never find out why this happened… but does it really matter? The most important question is how to not waste this opportunity. What could I change that could make last year's… insanity not happen, or at least not hurt so many pe—_ "HEY FEME-BOY!"

"GAH" Pete flinched from the sudden noise in his right ear. Looking to the right revealed, to the surprise of nobody, Gary Smith snickering at Pete's reaction. _Godamn, just when I was getting somewhere._

Gary was still snickering as he sat down on Pete's left side. "Oh, Petey. You're _wayyy_ too easy to scare." Picking up the other half of the sandwich, he gestured with it in Pete's direction as if it were a pointer for a presentation. "You're so lost in whatever dumbass daydreams you have you don't even pay attention to anything else."

Pete sighed. "Yeah, I guess." Remembering what he had been pondering, he added, "It was pretty important though. So it's not like I was wasting my attention." Gary just shrugged, taking a big bite out of his sandwich in response. Pete rolled his eyes. _Well okay then._ Looking to the other half of his sandwich, he shrugged and picked it up. _Who knows if Gary's gonna take this one too._

The next afternoon, Pete tried to get his plans for the day in order as the bell to end Math rang. He had a few minutes of free time now before his next class. As he packed his papers and books, he reflected on this… second day of the 'second' school year. He'd been sticking to his regular schedule, at least as far as he could remember from the beginning of the year. He figured it wasn't too noticeable anyway— it wasn't like people were watching him or anything. Shouldering his bag, Pete quickly exited the room before the teacher could assign him some 'extra credit' or something for being slow.

 _Let's see… I usually went back to the dorm earlier in the day than later in the year, I think—plus, I know Gary's going to try and recruit me for the takeover thing soon._ Making his way down the main staircase, Pete tried not to panic about how he'd already let himself be fooled once and had no real plan as to how to accomplish his goal. _I'll… just have to try and convince him it's a bad idea. Easy enough. Yeah, right._

First things first, though. There were still classes to attend, and Pete's least favorite class was coming up. _Sigh. Time to head to the gym._ As he walked down the stairs to the back of the building though, a wave of deja'vu swept through him. _Whoa! What?_ He looked around as he walked toward the fountain. _Everything looks normal, what was that about?_

Before he realized anything had happened, he was on the ground with papers flying everywhere. _Ow…_ Somebody's cackling retreated into the distance as Pete tried to pick himself up. "Shit Petey, didj'ya see where that dick went?"

Jimmy had run up, and he looked rather out of breath. Not to mention like he wanted to beat the crap out of somebody. _Oh… yeah… I remember this…_ Pete turned to look at the fountain behind him. "Y-yeah, he went that way. Don't worry, I got these pap—" but Jimmy had already run off. "—ers."

As he collected his papers, Pete shuddered as he recalled Jimmy's expression from just now. But more than that; _wasn't this… the day Gary first talked about his plan? Shoot… and I'm not any closer to knowing what caused all that insanity in the first place._ Either way, as he rushed off to Gym he re-affirmed his desire to NEVER get on Jimmy's bad side.

 _As if I needed another reminder after yesterday…_

Pete dragged himself into the common room and collapsed onto the couch, intent on just sitting and watching some television to relax after class. _Goddamn, Burton really worked us hard today. Man—guess it was good that Jimmy wasn't there; I would definitely be hurting more if he had been._

But sadly, relaxation was not on somebody else's mind that evening. "Good evening, young lady! And what're we watching today?"

 _Uuuuugh_ "What do you want, Ga—" Pete was immediately put on high alert, remembering his train of thought from earlier. _Oh shit, that's right… I just hope I'm wrong…_

Gary answered Pete's uncompleted sentence, unaware of his peer's newly-heightened emotional distress. "Oh, what everybody wants, Feme-boy. I'm just better at getting it."

Pete blinked. "…Right. I feel like I should find that a little creepy…" He considered getting up to turn on the TV, but decided he was too tired, instead reaching for his bag to find something to do. Gary, meanwhile, frowned at Pete's comment.

"That's rather rude, Petey. What're you trying to imply?" Pete could feel Gary's eyes on him even though he wasn't looking at him. He tried not to shudder. _I'm way too tired to deal with this…_

"Uh… nothing. Just forget it." Finally settling on dragging his sketchbook out, he pulled it into his lap and just started doodling.

But a grin was spreading across Gary's face. "Aw, butthurt about getting knocked around today, Feme-boy?"

Pete looked up from the page of eye sketches he'd started. "Huh?" He frowned. _Gary somehow knew about Jimmy not helping me up last time, too..._ "W-what do you mean?"

Gary's grin spread even wider. "Come on, Petey—don't lie to me. You look like shit." Leaning back, he swept his gaze up and down Pete's form in a way that he found kind of disturbing. Pete leaned back while Gary's expression shifted to something bordering on sympathetic. "Gym class isn't kind to those of us with more intellectual leanings, after all."

"Oh! Yeah…" Pete breathed a sigh. Turning back to his sketches, he continued "Burton really worked us hard today. Hope he's not as tough on Thursday…" Frowning as he put pencil to paper, Pete muttered more to himself "Plus, Jimmy'll be there, so that'll make it much tougher." A chill went through him as a picture of Jimmy's expression earlier that day mingled with all the times he'd seen the horrible anger his friend could express. _He really can be terrifying sometimes._

Pete could hear the smirk in Gary's next comment. "Oh, you heard too, Petey?" He got up from the couch, moving to turn on the TV. "Jimmy-boy is making quite the name for himself, winning a slingshot off those Bullies like that."

Pete looked up at that. "Huh? A slingshot?" Gary hm'd distractedly as he flipped through channels, trying to find something to watch. _Huh! The more you know, I guess_. _I'd assumed he'd always had that._ Resuming his sketching, Pete tried to enjoy being able to sketch in peace. Since it'd been on his mind, he'd ended up sketching some rough approximations of Jimmy's Murder face. Pete frowned, scanning the drawing critically. _Huh. Jimmy's kinda hard to draw now that I think about it._

"Your new boyfriend, Feme-boy?" Gary had, unbeknownst to Pete, sat back down and started leaning over so that he could see what he was drawing. Pete snapped the book closed, a response that made Gary laugh.

"No! Ew, dude, don't be gross." _Besides, Zoe would_ kill _me! Well, she will, I guess._

Gary stopped laughing abruptly, and gave Pete a very level stare. "But seriously. Pete." His serious expression was almost more frightening than the laughter. "If you ever find yourself in an abusive relationship, you'll let me know right?"

Sighing, Pete replied "Whatever, man." Turning back to his sketch, he added, "Would it kill you to just leave me alone for once?"

At that, Gary grabbed his sketchbook and flung it onto the floor. Ignoring Pete's protests, he advanced toward his side of the couch. "Oh, but Feme-boy, don't tell me he's NOT abusive." Gary's grin started to gain an uncomfortably familiar edge to it, and Pete scooched rapidly toward the other end of the couch, nearly forgetting about his sketchbook.

"What? No, I just said—"

Interrupting him, Gary rolled his eyes and asked "Seriously, Petey? Who ignores another person lying on the ground and runs off without even helping them up?" He gave Pete a look that could've been sympathetic or patronizing. But Pete frowned. _He does have a point, but… didn't he say something similar last time?_

Gulping down his nerves, Pete replied slowly "I… I don't know what Jimmy was doing, so I can't assume he was being a jerk just because he didn't stop to help me up." _Maybe it was important, or something._

Leaning back a little, Gary frowned, and then sighed, as if Pete was being extremely thick. Gesticulating with his hands, Gary leaned toward him again, but he fought the temptation to move away. "Look Pete, it's really simple. Jimmy isn't a good person, right?"

Pete frowned. He didn't want to bad-mouth his friend, but… his eyes focused on the sketchbook that Gary had thrown away, which had fallen on the page he'd been working on just minutes ago. Even so, he hesitated a bit more before nodding his agreement.

Smirking, Gary added "Not like _you_." his smirk deepened at Pete's utter confusion, but he didn't address it. "Let's face it, Feme-boy, you're probably the _nicest_ kid on campus." Pete leaned back as his confusion evaporated. He remembered _this_ conversation all too well. Gary was too busy counting 'Feme-boy's' traits off on his fingers to notice that his audience's reaction wasn't what he'd been expecting. "I've never seen you hit somebody despite the fact that nearly everybody at this lousy school taunts you, you're constantly helping people pick up crap they've dropped; you even apologize when somebody bumps into _you_." Gary shrugged, finally fixing his gaze directly on Pete, at which point his pleasant smile quickly disappeared to be replaced with confusion. "You're practically a... hey, what's your problem?"

Pete frowned, reflecting on 'last year'; Gary'd spun some yarn about how together Pete and he could 'remake the school in their image'. Pete hadn't really wanted to say yes… but Gary hadn't given him time to even think, so he'd agreed. Then, Jimmy'd shown up, and Gary had spouted some bullshit philosophy about 'letting the losers drown'. While staring directly at _him_. Then… well. The less said about 'what happens to liars' the better in Pete's opinion.

"…sorry. I… wasn't paying attention." Crossing his arms, Pete decided to go all-in. Looking Gary dead in the eye, he said "Look, Gary, just tell me what you want."

Gary's confusion seemed to melt away to reveal anger. Pete couldn't imagine what he was so mad for. Gary's voice was dangerously soft when he next spoke. "Whatever do you mean, Feme-boy?" He then shook his head, as if snapping himself out of something before giving Pete a concerned frown. "I'm just trying to help the people at this school be better friends! Don't you want that, Petey?" He leaned over and laid a hand on Pete's shoulder "A school where people could befriend others instead of fighting them?"

Pete was afraid to look Gary in the eye—would his disingenuous intentions shine through? Or would they stay hidden? Pete wasn't sure which option scared him more. "…Yeah… but..." He sighed, deciding he couldn't forsake Jimmy. "I have to support my friends, too."

To his surprise, Gary clapped his hands together in delight. "That's perfect! Oh, man—with my strategy, Jimmy's muscle, and your morals, we can do practically anything we want!" Pete looked back to Gary, who was no longer paying him any attention—he had that crazed look that Pete remembered so well from 'last year' as he rubbed his hands together. "Hehe, boy oh boy this is so _exciting!_ " _That wasn't what I meant!_

Pete shook his head, really backing away from Gary now. "What? No! I don't wanna be part of your stupid plan." Gary froze to give Pete a blank look. _Oh shit._

Luckily, he didn't sound angry when he said quietly "But Petey, didn't you just say you wanted to support your friends?" Gary quirked an eyebrow up at Pete, as if he were missing something very basic.

Pete furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Yeah? So?"

Gary laughed a little. "Come on, Feme-boy, do I not count? I'm literally the _only_ person who talks to you." Gary's expression seemed to be a mix of pride, pity, and amusement.

It was in that moment Pete realized; fuck this guy. He looked Gary straight in the eye, and found himself saying in a mocking tone "Don't _lie_ , Gary. Don't you know what _happens_ to liars?" As he stood up to get his sketchbook, Jimmy walked in, unnoticed by the other two teenagers.

"…do you want to run that by me again, Kowalski?" As Pete swung his backpack onto his shoulder, Gary rose from his seat and loomed dangerously over Pete, who shrank back a little. _Crap I forgot that Gary can still kick my ass…_

At that point, Jimmy made his presence known. "Hey, the fuck's going on?" Gary snapped his head in Jimmy's direction, and smoothly threw an arm around Pete's shoulder in a cordial manner. _Hey!_

"Hey, man—nothin' to worry about." From his voice alone, Pete could tell Gary was grinning. _Are you serious!?_ "Petey's just getting a little too big for his britches, isn't that right, Feme-boy?" And God as his witness, Gary patted him on the head like a little kid. _That's it—FUCK this!_ Pete shoved Gary off him and blindly stormed out of the common room. He bumped into somebody on the way out but was too lost in his own anger to give a shit. Gary shouted after him: "Aw, don't be like that Petey! You know I still love you, come on!"

Turning around as he backed out of the dorm, Pete flipped him the bird, shouting: "Here's a plan for you: Go fuck yourself, Gary!" Before shoving the door open and letting it shut with a satisfying BANG.

The sun looked like it was setting outside, but the shadow of the main building blocked most of the light from entering the inside of the library. The only sounds were the scratching of pens, turning of pages, and occasional light coughs from busy students. Pete, on the other hand, was trying his best to stop himself from repeatedly slamming his head on the table. _Goddamnit why did I_ DO _that!?_ He settled for trying to smother himself with his hands.

He was going to have to apologize. Gary hadn't done anything wrong—at least, nothing that he remembered. And it was hardly fair to hold something against him that he didn't even remember doing. But Pete really couldn't feel sorry for it; it'd been soooo satisfying. _I'm surprised he didn't come beat the shit out of me immediately, actually. I doubt it would've have taken that great a logical leap to figure out that I'd gone to the library…_

He shook his head, refocusing on the matter at hand. He still needed to find out what the hell happened 'last year'. Or was going to happen, anyway. And it was pretty obvious that Gary had played a big role in what'd gone down—so why had he done it? Pete still had no idea. And he probably wasn't going to find out if Gary would rather kick him in the nuts than talk to him.

Groaning in despair, he crossed his arms and hid his head in the little pocket of air. _I am going to have to swallow my pride big time…_ Pete heard the chair across the way scrap as somebody sat down, so he chanced a peek from his arm-cage.

Jimmy was sitting across from him, looking supremely uncomfortable in these academic surroundings. Pete's startled "Jimmy?" caused a chorus of 'SHUSH'es to emanate from all directions.

Pete was about to apologize but Jimmy cupped his hand around his mouth and practically shouted "Hey, shut up! I'm tryin' to talk to my friend here!" Pete grimaced as he darted his eyes around the space looking for any authority figures. _Oh geze that's going to piss Mrs. Carvin off for sure, and Lord knows Jimmy doesn't need to get even_ more _on her bad side!_

Whispering hastily, Pete tried to do some damage control. "No, no Jimmy, it's fine, we can talk somewhere else." The hostility in Jimmy's face melted away, and he nodded. After leaving the library (and apologizing to a disappointed-looking Mrs. Carvin), Pete resumed their conversation as they parked themselves in the courtyard of the library, away from the Nerds hanging around. "So what's up?"

Jimmy shrugged. "You looked super pissed off earlier. Figured ya needed some time to calm down." As he talked, Jimmy pulled his slingshot out of his pocket and started taking potshots at people passing by from far away. He didn't manage to hit anybody, but he seemed to enjoy it. _Wow, that's actually kind of true…_

"Yeah, actually—I did need some time to cool down. Thanks." _Jimmy's being a lot nicer than he was last time._ Pete frowned. It made sense at the end of 'last year' that Jimmy would be so friendly toward him, since 'the king' felt bad about ignoring him for all that time. But Pete wasn't sure why this Jimmy was being so nice. "Hey, um. This may sound like a weird question…" Jimmy nodded to show he was listening as he pulled back the slingshot for another round. "But why are you being so… nice to me?" At that, Jimmy turned his head toward Pete and dropped his firing arm.

"Wha'dya mean? You seem like a nice kid— why wouldn't I be nice to ya?" Pete shrugged and looked out across the library courtyard. _Well you weren't this nice_ last _time…_ A long silence stretched between the two before Jimmy sighed, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Look, kid, you wanna talk about what went down between you and Gary? I don't really know either of you but that looked like some serious shit."

Pete shifted awkwardly. He was already pretty uncomfortable with this topic of conversation— talking about it with _Jimmy_ of all people wasn't helping his nerves. "I don't really wanna talk about it. It's just… really complicated." Thinking again about how Gary had been talking down to him earlier made Pete let out an angry huff. "It's just, Gary's such a dick, you know?" Jimmy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he's so… so… _superior_ , it's really annoying. He just thinks he's _sooo_ much better than everybody else."

Jimmy laughed a little, adding "Ha, yeah—like every time he gives a compliment it's like 'holy shit you can _tie_ your _shoes_ I never would've guessed you could do that'!"

Pete snickered, "Haha, yeah, or he's trying to get you to do something, and you don't know if he's lying or not." He shook his head. _Like how he was acting like we were_ friends _just now. Yeah right— 'last year' Jimmy was right; we were_ never _friends._

Jimmy snorted. "Yeah, hard to tell with that guy." He leaned against the wall separating the library from the rest of campus, surveying the passing students as he pulled out his slingshot again. "It's like, today he actually helped me figure this thing out," He pulled back, actually managing to shoot somebody rather far away, presumably to demonstrate this newfound skill. "But he insulted me the whole fuckin' time, and then just ditched me after I did what he wanted." Frowning, he added, "That Algernon kid I helped earlier said he was a sociopath—that's the thing where somebody doesn't have feelings, right?" He looked at Pete, seemingly for confirmation.

Pete shrugged. "I don't really know. I think it's a bit more complicated than just not being able to feel emotions, though." Dropping his backpack next to his friend, Pete propped himself on the wall as Jimmy resumed attempting to hit people with the slingshot. "Besides, Gary definitely feels emotions, he just…" Pete thought about Gary from 'last year', as he sunk deeper and deeper into his plans to ruin Jimmy, ignoring Pete (which he knew shouldn't bother him as much as it did), and generally preparing to fuck the whole school over. But _why_? "…I've got no clue _what_ Gary's deal is." _I mean, it's clear there's_ something _wrong with him, but… I've got no idea what it could be_.

Missing somebody else, Jimmy let out a disappointed raspberry before adding "Maybe it's got something to do with all that medication he keeps bitching about." Pete perked up at that. _Medication? I think Gary's mentioned that before._

"Maybe—I assumed it was some kind of physical thing; my parents always said it's impolite to ask." He shrugged, watching the arc of another shot from the slingshot miss its target. "My dad takes a lot of vitamins, so didn't even really notice."

Jimmy snorted. "Yeah right; practically the first thing he said to me was that his meds made him crazy—that if you act weird here, they force you to take 'em." He glanced sidelong at Pete. "That's… not true, right?" _He looks a little worried…_

Pete thought for a moment before shaking his head. "If it is, I've never heard about it, and I've lived in this town all my life." Gaining confidence in the certainty of his knowledge, he nodded, continuing "I think something like that would be pretty hard to keep under wraps, especially since my dad used to be a teacher before he became a librarian; he keeps tabs on that kinda stuff." At that, Jimmy looked a little relieved—or at least, his eyebrows stopped furrowing together so hard. Pete gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about."

A corner of Jimmy's mouth lifted up, making it look a bit like he was smirking. "Yeah, like they'd get me to take that stuff. That shit's _insane_." Jimmy moved his gaze elsewhere, looking for non-living targets to practice hitting as he continued speaking. "I tried some once, and I couldn't sit still for four fucking hours." He shuddered. "I ended up breaking into my school's cafeteria and stealing, like, fifty jars of peanut butter and covering my desk and lockers with it." He snorted. "Got expelled for _that_ pretty fast."

The two friends sat for a few minutes in silence as Jimmy tried to hit the windows of the third floor. Finally, Pete broke the silence. "I'm sorry, what? Peanut butter?" _That makes literally_ no _sense_.

Jimmy full-on grinned at that. "HA! Yeah, I know. I was trying to mark my stuff. And since I like peanut butter, I figured that would make people realize that stuff was mine so they wouldn't mess with it." _Wha…_ how _would that even help with a situation like that?_ Jimmy looked at Pete's confused face and nodded. "Yeah, I know it makes no sense." He shrugged, adding "That's why they'd have to hold me down now to get me to take that stuff—whatever's in those ADD meds, it's fuckin' _insane_."

"Wow, that's crazy." A Greaser and a Prep started attacking each other in the distance, and both boys watched as some nearby prefects tackled both fighters to the ground. "…I didn't know you liked peanut butter." _I really don't know much about Jimmy._

Jimmy shrugged as he pulled back the slingshot again. "Not so much now, I was pretty little back then." Taking aim at a Greaser trying to defend his friend from getting busted, he continued "I only really like homemade peanut butter, so I don't eat it much." As his shot flew, both friends flinched as it missed its mark—instead hitting the nearby prefect, who immediately zeroed in on Jimmy. "Fuck." Breaking into a run, Jimmy called over his shoulder to him "Meet you back in the dorms, Pete!" before disappearing around the corner with the prefect in hot pursuit. Pete smiled, surprised that Jimmy had actually called him 'Pete' and not 'Petey'— _looks like I have at least one friend around here._

And now that the author has a handle on technical things, an author's note can be added. Any kind of feedback is appreciated, especially anything regarding the title—referencing _Groundhog Day_ seems… well, too obvious.


	3. A Little Help for Gary

Loops Two Through Fifteen

"God, Femme Boy, who are you, my _shrink_? I'll take my meds when I fucking _want_ to."

"You know Petey, the last time I checked my chemical health was none of your damn business."

"Fuck off, Femme Boy, I'm _busy_."

"You're seriously starting to piss me off, Kowalski. So go find a lake to drown in, okay?"

"Pft, what!? Come _on_ Petey, where the hell would you even get twenty bucks?"

"Oh, you don't have a hundred bucks, Petey-weety? Well, looks like I can't take them today, then!"

"…Ahahahahaha! Hahahaha! Oh my _God_ Femme Boy, are you seriously _threatening me_!? With **_what_** , exactly?! Hahahahaha~!"

"See, at first this was funny, Petey, but now it's just an annoying waste of my time. I have better shit to do than fend off white-shirted, acne'd assholes—so don't make me turn them on you again, hm?"

Pete took a deep breath to try and banish his recollections of his two previous failures and steady his nerves. _Here goes nothing, I guess._ "Hey, Beatrice!" The Nerd looked up from her book and frowned at him. _Huh?_ She put her finger up to her lips in a clear 'shush' gesture. _Oh, I guess that makes sense—we_ are _in the Library_. He sat down and pulled out a notebook before scribbling a quick note.  Sorry about that. I just wanted to ask you about the tutoring flyer you have posted in the boy's dorms?

Her frown, to Pete's disappointment, grew as she read the note. Not by much, but she seemed genuinely annoyed as she wrote a reply in red ink below. That is not a question. If you mean "Are you available for tutoring, Beatrice?" then the answer is, I'm afraid, no. I am already tutoring two other people, which is the maximum number my study schedule allows. Pete frowned as he read her note. _That's a little rude… though it is true, I guess._

Pete grabbed his own pen and began to compose his reply. I know you're busy, but the other Nerds said I should talk to you if I want to learn about Neuroscience. As Beatrice read over his note, her eyes widened in surprise, and she seemed to re-read the last sentence a couple of times before looking between Pete and the note. The surprise soon turned to skepticism. _Geze, she's kind of being a jerk…_

Pete noticed that her reply was written much faster than before. I'm afraid that I can't take your request seriously until you prove to me that your intentions are genuine. Besides, I would still need time to arrange for alternate tutoring for my current students. She pushed the note to him and looked at him with her nose in the air. _Christ, is she going to be this condescending all the time?_

Pete sighed. _I guess Jimmy's jumped through more hoops for less._ All right, what do I need to do to prove myself? _Hopefully, finally figuring out why the hell Gary's not taking his meds will be worth it._

Well, Mr. Burton took something… rather important to me today…

Pete was feeling… relatively optimistic lately. It'd taken four or so loops, but he'd _finally_ figured out how to get Gary to take his meds! The biting February cold had Pete's nose itching something fierce as he walked back to school. He sighed, watching this breath float up as he reflected. It'd been harder than usual to befriend Jimmy this time around, since he'd needed to keep careful tabs on Gary's comings and goings. He'd also not been able to stop the betrayal from happening—that had been… really disappointing, to say the least. Still, Pete _had_ managed to keep Gary on his meds for a record amount of time, which was no small feat. Pete'd especially been terrified when he'd started deliberately skipping meals—luckily, it didn't seem like Gary'd figured it out, since he was able to get him to eat again.

Pete frowned to himself as he passed the comic store; he was… pleased that Gary was taking his medication—he clearly needed it, after all—but… it didn't seem like all that much about this loop was _different_. Pondering the dark waters of Bullworth Harbor, the only difference seemed to be the pace at which things were happening—Jimmy usually would've been in the middle of dealing with the Greasers by now, but this time around he was only finishing up with the Preppies. And Pete had expected there to not be a reason to deal with them at all—after all, if Gary wasn't planning anything, there wouldn't be a reason for all the cliques to hate Jimmy, right?

Pete nodded to a prefect as he ducked under the stone gates of the school, continuing his train of thought. Then there was the matter of how… _wrong_ it felt to force Gary to take his meds. Pete had tried to rationalize it by figuring it probably wouldn't work, but this was working much better than everything else he'd tried. He stomped his boots after finally entering the Boy's dorm, pulling his gloves off and rubbing his hands together to get the blood flowing. _Well, it's only February—I've still got a lot of time._ Pete glanced at his watch as he ascended the stairs; it was nearly nine. _God, I am tired… How does Gary do this manipulation and lying thing so much? It's so exhausting…_ Finally entering his dorm room, Pete gave a distracted "Hey, Gary" before plopping onto his bed and pulling out his sketchbook. He started doodling whatever—hands holding things, a lab coat, some pill bottles… After a while, though, Pete felt somebody's eyes on him. Looking up, it turned out Gary was staring at him intently. He didn't look overtly hostile—more like he was… _examining_ him. Pete replied before he was able to formulate a proper response. "…Um, what? Do you want something?" He flinched. _Well, I could've phrased_ that _better._

Gary narrowed his eyes at that. "I don't know, Petey, you tell me. What _do_ I want?" He leaned toward Pete as if listening for something. Pete raised his eyebrows— _that's new…_ That made him swallow nervously.

He tried to read Gary's expression, but his face was very blank. _Better tread carefully._ He replied slowly "I don't know, Gary—I'm not a mind reader." Pete frowned, adding "Is something wrong?"

That made Gary laugh—though it didn't sound happy. He added "Puh- _lease_ , Femme Boy! Like you don't fucking _know_." before glaring at him for a bit. Pete blinked— _what is he talking about? He… he couldn't_ know, _could_ _he?_ After a while, Gary grinned and added, "Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that I haven't eaten for four fucking days, hm?" Pete's eyes widened at that— _Oh my God!_

"Wha, four days!? Why would you—" He was cut off by a pillow suddenly hitting him in the face.

"—DON'T _lie_ , Pete!" Gary hissed "You know _exactly_ why!" He slipped off his bed and began to pace back and forth across the room, holding Pete's gaze the entire time. He gulped nervously. _Come on, there's no way knows!_ But he gave his full attention to Gary as he asked quietly "You were trying to fucking _fix_ me, weren't you?" Gary kept pacing, but Pete's gaze was suddenly drawn inexorably to the floor. _Shitshitshitshit, he_ knows.

He wasn't even aware of opening his mouth, but he still heard his voice answering Gary's question. "I… I don't know…" But Gary interrupted with an empty laugh.

"You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about, Kowalski." he hissed, "Don't deny it. You're fucking _drugging_ me, little Femme Boy." Pete squeezed his eyes shut, feeling all the guilt he'd been able to keep at bay until now crashing down around him. He heard Gary adopt a high-pitched, squeaky tone. "Oooh, look at me, I'm Peter Kowalski, I'm the only sane motherfucker in this hell-hole! Oooh, my poor roommate is so _crazy_!" Pete's eyes snapped open at the sound of books hitting objects in the room, but Gary didn't seem to care about that—he looked… angry, of course, but there was something far more painful underneath the rage. He went on "Ooh, let's try and _help_ him, surely the right _chemicals_ will solve the problem!" _I didn't mean it like_ that _!_

Pete straightened a little, interrupting Gary's rant. "No, I never thou—"

But Gary whirled around and cut him off. "SAVE it, Kowalski. I know you. You think you're better than me, huh?" He tilted his head as if to ask _well?_ before hissing "Well, you're _not_."

Pete bristled a little at that. "I do _not_ think I'm smarter than yo—" But Gary interrupted him again, this time looking like he was trying to crush his own forehead.

"CRIST, Pete! I don't mean intelligence! I mean you think you're a better _person_ than me! _Don't_ you?"

For a second, Pete could've sworn he'd heard the echo of the very same person praising him for his kindness in comparison to his peers. He shook his head, stammering out "…I… I've never reall—"

"Bull. FUCKING. Shit, Pete." Pete snapped back to the present to see Gary grinning as he affected a casual air, as if they were discussing the weather. "I bet you think you're a good person, don't you?" Pete didn't say anything, worrying his lip as he considered. _Do I?_ Gary chuckled and resumed his pacing. "You see Pete; you _think_ that you're doing the right thing. You think that there's something _broken_ about me, that if you just adjust this brain chemical or that hormone I'll be _fixed._ " Each point Gary made drove the guilt-knife in deeper—these were the exact questions Pete had been taking great pains to avoid. Gary turned and smirked at him before shrugging. "But you know what? I'm _NOT_ broken!" He stalked over to his desk, pulling one of the drawers open and, carrying it over to his bed, turned it upside down, spilling all the bottles of pills that Pete had been quietly accessing over the semester. Gary's face seemed to freeze at the large number of the small bottles—Pete's chest felt suddenly much tighter when he noticed the slight _fear_ in Gary's face before it morphed into disgust. "See, all these… chemicals?" He paused to re-established eye-contact and drop the drawer onto the floor before continuing. "They were holding me back, Pete. _THAT'S_ why I stopped taking my meds."

Pete looked from Gary's face to the small mountain of bottles on the bed before remembering the frankly _insane_ amount of research into medicine he'd done in previous loops. Frowning, he was about to explain that all the research said he _needed_ the medication, but Gary beat him to it. "Oh, but I can hear you wine, Femme Boy 'but Gaaary you neeeed the meds! They make you better!' **FUCK** YOU!" Pete jumped, partly at the sound, but mostly at the _rage_ behind Gary's scream— _have I ever seen Gary lose his cool like this?_ Pete wracked his brain; but in the four years he'd been living with and attending school with Gary, he had never seen him get this upset. Gary seemed to realize that he'd lost it a little, because he took a couple of deep breaths before continuing in a deceptively calm voice.

"…you don't know shit, Kowalski. In fact, you know even less than the stupid therapists that say I need those pills. They don't give a shit about what I think about my meds. They're getting paid, why should they? But you… you think you're some fucking hero. You think you're gonna be like… Hopkins? Come in and save the day? Well guess what? You're the one who's doing this for 'my own good'. But you've never even asked me about this shit. You and my therapists are in the same boat, except _you_ think you're better than them because you _claim_ to care about my wellbeing. But you're using me, just like they are! Oh, you can _tell_ me it's different, but it aaaall comes down to the same thing; doctors want money, so they diagnose kids with 'mental problems' and give them drugs that shut them up and make their parents happy. 'Heroes' want other people to tell them what a 'difference in their lives you've made' or 'how much you've helped this community'. Well guess what, _loser_? You haven't done a goddamn thing that's at all noteworthy. You keep your nose clean, and everybody at this school basically ignores you. Hahaha, but do you _honestly_ think _that_ makes you a good person? Think again. _No_ body is good. It's a dog-eat-dog world, Pete. And you're just as hungry as everybody else."

And with that, Gary slammed the door shut behind him hard enough to make the pile of pill bottles shift and spill onto the floor; Pete flinched.

He spent the next few months avoiding Gary. What could he say to that? He hardly knew what to _think_ about what Gary had said, much less how to talk to him about it. Luckily ( _well… sort of_ ), he had entered his 'never leave the dorm room' level of planning, so Pete didn't have to try all that hard to avoid him.

Of course, as Gary sunk deeper and deeper into his plans, Jimmy's success and ego only grew, so Pete didn't even have the illusion of a friend anymore. _Jimmy's probably going to get expelled today, certainly by tomorrow._ He quietly marveled at the extreme lack of distress this thought brought him as he set his books down in Chemistry. _I guess Jimmy getting expelled is just… something that happens, from my perspective._ He sighed—more proof that Gary was right.

 _Just in general, though—it's not like I don't_ care _about Jimmy, it's just… something that needs to happen_. Pete knew justifying himself was a fool's errand but it made him feel a little better. Even so, a small voice in the back of his mind whispered _, you've been spending all your time trying to figure out Gary's deal so you haven't found out how to keep Jimmy from getting doing that spray-paint idiocy._ His moody thoughts were interrupted by the professor ordering the class to follow his instructions precisely, since they would be working with volatile chemicals today. Additionally, it was a group-lab day, something only higher level science courses had, as Pete had been finding out. Today he was with Melvin and Cornelius; the two Nerds were having a heated argument that distracted Pete from his own depressing thoughts. Melvin was hissing "Of course she wouldn't! That would be _completely_ out of character for her!"

The friends sat on the other side of the small table from Pete, and as he measured out the amount of liquids they'd need for the period, Cornelius replied in a confused tone "But it would be walking right into GraveWing's trap! Samantha the Bold wouldn't walk into a trap if she could help it, right?"

As he copied down the formulas they were supposed to be working on for the period, Pete considered the ridiculous names in Cornelius' sentence. _Must be about one of those Grottos and Gremlins games the Nerds like so much._ Melvin groaned in frustration. "But that's the _point_ , she _doesn't_ know!" When the teacher shushed him, the passionate gamer lowered his voice to a hiss that was easily covered up by Pete's Bunsen-burning to sterilize their materials. "That's what the 'RP' in 'RPG' _means_!"

Cornelius gave his friend a skeptical look, replying to him in a tone that clearly suggested he was bonkers. "So… you're saying I'm supposed to just… walk into something I know is a trap? Even though I _heard_ Beatrice set it up yesterday?"

Melvin gestured frantically, as if he wasn't sure what gesture to even make. "YES! That is _exactly_ what I'm saying! Samantha _wasn't_ where GraveWing was, so she _couldn't_ know!"

Cornelius's skeptical expression deepened to incredulity. "…and you say that anime is silly. Willingly walk into a trap? Come on, Mel, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Pete glanced up from his finished preparations, looking between the two other boys at the table. _Wait… does Cornelius not play Grottos and Gremlins?_ Melvin, frustrated, seemed give up on his friend's seeming inability to grasp such a simple concept, crossing his arms and leaning down to inspect Pete's work in a huff.

"Sorry, I don't mean to butt in…" both boys looked up at Pete's comment. "…but, um, Cornelius, do you not play GnG?" Surprise turned to indignation on Melvin's part, and annoyance on Cornelius's.

"Not _all_ of us Nerds play GnG, you know." Melvin replied, icily, before his tone turned teasing. "Some of us choose to spend all our time watching kid's cartoons and writing fanfiction, isn't that right, Cornelius?"

He punched Melvin in the arm, saying "Like role playing's any different, Mel!" Even so, both were smiling before they were silenced by the teacher's scolding.

Pete, meanwhile, had realized something—he had been attending school with these two for about three continuous years, and yet he'd never even thought that they might have different interests from one another. As the class continued, Pete thought back to that second time he'd attended Chemistry with Jimmy. During a couple of loops Jimmy had even tried to tutor him in the subject, but it hadn't really gone well—Jimmy's thought process was just too different from his. Pete felt himself smile as he remembered Jimmy trying to explain the difference between 'square' and 'circle' tubes before he'd got fed up, sweeping all that they'd been working on off the desk and dragging him to the movies instead. Watching Cornelius carefully mix in the iodine (not too much—then they wouldn't be able to see anything), Pete considered the many memories of Jimmy he had like that—where they were just hanging out and shooting the shit.

 _…Hey, maybe that's what I'm missing?_ Now that he thought about it, he didn't really _know_ Gary all that well as a person. _Maybe… maybe he just needs friends?_ Real _friends!_ The idea felt so natural that he wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. Pete felt his smile widen as he let the thought of having _another_ friend lift his mood higher than it had been in months; all the manipulation, the lying, and the deception, he didn't have to do any of it anymore! He knew it wouldn't be easy, but hell, something that just _felt_ this right was bound to be worth it.

Pete dragged himself into the common room and collapsed onto the couch, wishing quite desperately that workouts carried over between the loops too. If he could, he would've stayed over by the gym and just sketched until his muscles had relaxed a bit, but then he would've thrown off the whole schedule.

As he pulled out his sketchbook, Pete heard Gary enter the room with a "Good evening, young lady! And what're we watching today?" _Here goes nothing—c'mon, Pete, deep breath._

"Hey Gary—not watching anything, just sitting. Gym was exhausting." Pete carefully watched Gary vault over the couch and plop down while he was talking. It'd been five whole loops since Gary'd given him a serious reality check—befriending him had proved to be far easier said than done, unsurprisingly.

To Pete's surprise, Gary leaned up against him and threw his legs over the left side of the couch so he was stretched out. He even responded to Pete's comment with "Mm, gym class isn't kind to those of us with more intellectual leanings, is it?" _Huh! That's new…_ Usually, Gary would comment on how he was 'responding to 'young lady' now' and prop his feet on the sketchbook instead of the couch. Pete smiled to himself. _Guess I'm doing_ some _thing right._

"Yeah…" While it was a marked improvement, it did make it kind of hard to draw. "Sorry, could you move a little? I can't really draw with you leaning on me like that." Gary turned to him sporting an unhappy frown—the 'I don't like how you're acting like you've got a say in what I do' frown, as he had dubbed it. It usually preceded Gary doing something weird. His smile disappeared and he gulped a little. _Oh man…_

Curling the frown up into a smirk, Gary replied "Oh, certainly, Petey." Before swinging his legs around to prop them on the _other_ side of the couch—which put his legs in Pete's lap.

Gary looked very satisfied with his misinterpretation of Pete's words; Pete rolled his eyes and snorted a little. "Heh, fair enough." He extracted his sketchbook from under Gary's legs, placing it on top like a table. "That okay?" Gary narrowed his eyes in thought, a classic 'wait that's not Petey behavior' look before shrugging and letting his head fall back so he was looking up at the ceiling. Pete smiled. "Cool." This was new, too. The next few minutes were spent in surprisingly cordial silence as he tried sketching Gary's pose and expression at the moment—If he was able to capture stuff on paper, he had found that it tended to stick in his brain longer so he could actually remember it. Not to mention it made him feel like he understood it better. He snorted to himself. _Yeah, like I understand Gary at all._

"Wow, Pete, are you really _that_ enamored of me?" He started a little, glancing over to find Gary had lifted himself up onto his hands and was peering at Pete's drawing. "And here I thought you and the new kid were in love!" Pete rolled his eyes despite his rueful smile as Gary let out a mock-disappointed tsk. "Oh Femme Boy, you're such a creature of passion."

Pete full-on laughed at that. "Come on, Gary, me and _Jimmy?_ Yeah, right." He shook his head, snickering. Gary suddenly swung his legs off of Pete's lap, sending his sketchbook careening to the floor. _Well, that was bound to happen sooner or later anyway._

Propping his arm on the back of the couch, Gary made friendly-seeming eye-contact with Pete, though he knew Gary well enough to know that that there was probably more to it than that. "You two do seem to have quite the rapport, though, don't you?" Then he paused, looking askance. Pete braced himself. _Here we go._ "Well… mostly. I mean, I doubt somebody who was _my_ friend would just leave me after I'd been knocked to the ground."

"Well, I only met him two days ago." Pete shrugged. What was strange about Gary (well… one of the things) was how he could never just get to the point. He insisted on winding his way obliquely toward what he wanted to say, and he hated whenever somebody took control of a conversation. So Pete had to wait for Gary to propose his idea in order to agree to it.

Gary sighed, and shook his head as if Pete were being extremely naïve. "Poor, sweet, innocent Petey. Are you telling me you think _Jimmy Hopkins_ is a good person?" Gary gave Pete his most patronizing look.

Pete gave it some thought for a moment before replying. "No, Jimmy isn't a good person, but he's not a bad person either." He shrugged somewhat apologetically, giving a lop-sided smile. "I mean, he's only fifteen—he's got a lot of growing up to do." _It's true, after all. Technically I'm a lot older than Jimmy but I still have a lot of stuff to learn._

Gary snorted, rolling his eyes. "Well, if that's true, how do you explain yourself, Femme Boy?" He gave Pete a smug smile, smirking like he'd already 'won' the 'argument'.

 _Here we go—just play along, he'll get there eventually._ "What do you mean?" And Gary gave Pete his whole spiel about how _nice_ he was. He watched Gary's expression carefully. _Does he really believe I can help?_

Finally, Gary reached the end of his list, and looked back at Pete with a pleasant smile. "You're practically a _saint_ by Bullworth standards!" He nodded slowly.

 _Okay, let's lead him to the point._ "Well… um, thank you. But what's that got to do with Jimmy?"

Gary positively beamed. "Now _that_ is an excellent question!" Removing his elbow from the back of the couch, he started scooching closer to Pete with the now-familiar glint of… something in his eye. Pete still wasn't totally sure what it was. "You see, Petey, this entire school is _full_ of people like Jimmy-boy, right?" He nodded, subtly trying to increase the distance between the two of them—Gary didn't seem to have a firm grasp on the concept of 'personal space'. Luckily, he was too busy grinning at Pete's agreement with his statement to notice. "Exactly! They're the reason people at this school are fighting all the time—" Gary's expression, to Pete's surprise, shifted to sympathetic. "—the reason people aren't talking to you, Femme Boy." Pete squirmed a bit at that, looking down at his hands. He'd mostly learned to accept how little attention people paid him, but… he couldn't deny that it wasn't exactly easy only having one, possibly two, friends. "Just imagine being able to get Jimmy-boy to, ahem, convince people to see things _your_ way!" Pete looked back up at Gary's face and flinched back a little—he'd leaned forward again, and his face had taken on a more far-away look, with a slightly crazed grin. _He's thinking about the plan—his mask is slipping a bit._ Pete breathed a bit—this part wasn't as scary now that he knew Gary better. He frowned, though. _Why can't he just be honest?_

Pete replied carefully "Well—" Gary gave his head a little shake before re-focusing on Pete after his comment, after which Pete continued with "I think you should ask for Jimmy's opinion about all this before you assume he'll beat people up, but…" He took a deep breath, steeling himself. _Here goes nothing!_ "I want to help you. So… count me in." He gave Gary the most determined-looking smile he could. It was the truth—if he couldn't understand the plan from the outside looking in, being an active part of it might give him a better understanding both of the plan and its creator's mind.

Gary's face was blank with surprise for a moment before he slowly returned Pete's smile, skootching back and holding out a hand for a handshake. "Well, then, Petey—looks like we've got ourselves a deal!" Gary's grip reminded Pete a lot of the bank teller that had shaken his hand when his parents took him to open a checking account—very professional, no personal connotations. He sighed a little. _Figures it wouldn't be that easy._

While shaking his hand, Gary turned toward the entryway to the common room. "Hey man, what's goin' on?" Pulling his hand easily from Gary's grasp, Pete waved happily to Jimmy. Jimmy really _was_ the polar opposite of Gary—he was so easy to get to know, offering up information about himself without the complex social and psychological gymnastics necessary with Gary.

Jimmy half-smiled, nodding in Pete's direction before shrugging and replying to Gary's question. "Not much." Now was the point where things got pretty familiar.

Gary didn't respond to Jimmy's comment, since he was clearly itching to talk. "I was just telling Petey here about my idea to take over the school—" Pete had to suppress a snort at Gary correcting himself; he really could be obvious at times. To cover it up he nodded solemnly. "—I mean my plan for _us_ to take over the school." But, thinking about it, Pete found himself feeling rather sad about Gary's slip-up.

"What _plan_?" _Does he really not even consider us a part of it? Why include us if that's the case?_

Pete automatically turned toward Gary for this part; it was pretty central to understanding him, after all. He waved a hand as if to dismiss Jimmy's concerns as he gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Jimmy! It's just a little something I came up with." Crossing his arms on the back of the couch, his smile morphed into something closer to a smirk as he launched into his spiel. "It's sink or swim, my friend. And if you're good at swimming—" Here he looked over at Pete. To Pete's surprise, Gary didn't have the usual condescension written in his expression. Or at least, not as much of it. Pete would've called it 'sad' if he hadn't known any better. "—you gotta let the losers drown." Gary flicked his gaze away from Pete at that and into a corner of the room, looking pensive for a moment before lifting his hand as usual and adding "Why don't you guys leave the thinking up to me?" as he got off the couch and began walking toward the window, re-establishing the usual cadence of the conversation.

But Pete stared off into space, thinking about what had just been said. _Wow, that's the most sympathy from this scene that I've ever seen from Gary. It's gotta be because I agreed to his plan so easily. But he still said to leave the thinking up to him—_ "—Petey, you were right. Jimmy _is_ pretty dumb."

Pete blinked and looked up at being addressed, but turned his head in Jimmy's direction at " _What_ 'd you say about me!?" _Oh, dang—forgot about this bit._

Pete turned to face Jimmy for this. "I'm not sure, I don't remember saying that—if I did, I'm sorry, though." Jimmy didn't look entirely satisfied by that apology, but he didn't look like he wanted to give him an Indian burn anymore, either. So Pete shifted his focus to Gary. "But about what Jimmy said, I actually have a question—why _should_ you do all the thinking?" Gary looked momentarily startled at Pete's question before his eyes narrowed in hostility. Pete gulped. _Oh boy, here we go…_

"Well, Petey, I'm the one who thought of the plan—doesn't it make sense that I'm the one orchestrating it?" As he spoke, Gary rose from his seat to stand casually looking down his nose at Pete as he addressed him. _Subtle, Gary._ Pete tried to ignore the fact that it actually was a little intimidating.

He rose to his feet as well, nodding in agreement as he tried to put his thoughts in order. "Yeah, it makes perfect sense—but just because you're 'orchestrating' doesn't mean you have to think everything up by yourself, you know?" Gary curled his lip up at that; never a good sign. _Oh crabs—I guess I touched a nerve_.

Gary stepped closer to Pete, staring intently at him with a sneer on his face. Forget 'a little'—that was _very_ intimidating. After a moment of Gary looking him over, though, he stepped back a bit and smirked, adding "Oh, I get it, Femme Boy." Instead of looking at Pete like he was something disgusting on the bottom of his shoe, now Gary was looking at him like he was an amusing child. "You think _you_ should do the thinking, don't you?"

Pete blinked. _What the hell kind of logical leap was that?_ He shook his head, adding "Wha-? No, that wasn't what I—" But, unsurprisingly, Gary didn't let him finish.

Gary kept his tone casual, as if he were just giving friendly advice. "Hey, now Petey; don't _lie!_ " Pete's eyes widened. _Oh, **fuck**!_ He'd been able to avoid _this_ particular outcome so far.

Pete took a quick step back, looking over at Jimmy, imploring him to do _something_. "Come on, Gary, I'm not ly—"

"'Cuz you know what we do to liars around here, right?" Pete swallowed nervously, studying Gary's face carefully. He looked much angrier than he had the first time.

Pete contemplated Gary in the few moments before the inevitable groin attack, and started when a thought struck him; "You're _scared_."

Gary didn't seem to hear him. "We kick them in the **balls**!" Pete honestly thought it hurt more this time, since he'd been expecting it. _At least I was able to collapse directly onto the couch._

Through the haze of pain, Pete managed to hear Gary give a disgusted snort before turning away and talking to Jimmy about his new slingshot. As Gary kept talking, though, Pete heard Jimmy quietly say to him "Uh… hey, just… lie on your back and get some water, 'kay, man?"

Pete was impressed with himself that he managed to squeak out a "Yeah…" before giving in to the pain. A few people came up to him and laughed at how immobilized with pain he was. But the sudden onslaught of uncontrollable sobbing was severe enough that they actually left him alone.

God _damnit_ … EVERYTHING he'd worked so hard for was just so _stupid_! What, did he think he could be _friends_ with Gary fucking Smith? The same kid who'd spent the last fifteen years of his life calling him 'Femme Boy' and doing nothing but belittle him and spent more time locked in his own head thinking than he did sleeping? Ha… yeah right. All he had was the begrudging friendship of somebody who, from his perspective, he'd met _two days ago_ because he didn't share any of Pete's memories of studying together and hanging out together and dolling out unsolicited advice on girls. Pete buried his head in his arms as the emptiness in his chest felt like it was swallowing him whole; he was truly, utterly, _alone_.

Pete had lost track of how long he'd been lying on the couch, but eventually he heard Gary sneering behind him. "Oh, _there_ you are, Femme Boy. I'd almost _forgotten_ about you!" That sent a fresh wave of sickening loneliness through Pete's gut. He'd stopped bothering to hide his tear-streaked face in his arms from whoever happened to be around. Pete's overwhelming apathy changed to mild surprise when Gary knelt down in front of his face so they were somewhat eye-to-eye, sporting a pissed-off expression. _At least he's not laughing like the first time…_ He would've felt scared, but he honestly didn't care anymore. Gary contemplated Pete's sorry state of misery for a bit before giving him a look that clearly stated he deserved this. "Now, Femme Boy; I hope we've learned a valuable lesson today." He leaned forward, hissing right in Pete's face "Do _not_ try to undermine my authority. Got it?" He kept his face close to Pete's, waiting for an answer. Pete's jaw, meanwhile, would have fallen off if he hadn't been lying on a couch. _What!?_ He pushed himself up, trying to think about what Gary could mean by _that_. Eyes widening, he realized what he meant— _it's the same thing he does to Jimmy in the Hole!_ He groaned, slapping himself in the face. Of _course_ Gary was scared; if he actually thought that Pete was valuable, he'd assume Pete would want all the power for himself. He laughed a little to himself. How could he be so _blind_ as to miss that? Pete couldn't see him with his hand still covering his face, but he could hear Gary growling "Is that a yes? Because I'm going to be very angry if it's not, Petey." Removing his hand from his face, Pete decided to try something he'd never done before.

Taking a deep breath, he began reciting. "I know you hate me, Jimmy-boy. I know you said all that stuff about me behind me back." Pete kept his voice neutral, rather than trying to emulate the loathing and disgust that Gary injected into those words. "You wanna run this school? I wanna run this school. Only one of us is gonna make it; and it's gonna be me." Pete turned his body in Gary's direction, who was looking at him with utter confusion.

"What the fuck, Pete? _Who_ are you _talking_ to?" Pete ignored him, offering his own explanation.

"You always say that to Jimmy a day or two after Halloween…" wincing as he adjusted himself so he was sitting cross-legged on the couch, he looked Gary carefully in the eye. "And I never got why you always betrayed him like that, you know? I mean, Jimmy's… _Jimmy_ , he doesn't wanna take over the school—he just wants to fuck around." He sighed, before smiling tentatively. "But… I think I get it now—you don't trust us 'cuz you think we're gonna… I dunno, stab you in the back or something." He shook his head. "But—while I can't speak for Jimmy—I really do _want_ to help you with your crazy plan; I couldn't care less about taking over the school, but it seems like it's important to you, and you're my friend, so…" He shrugged, sniffing and wiping his nose off on his sleeve before giving Gary a grin.

The humming of the vending machine and beeping of the video game in the corner filled the room as Gary stared at Pete like he'd proposed they bulldoze the school and build a dairy farm on the remains. As the silence stretched on, Gary's face slowly became more and more incredulous until Pete burst into giggles; the whole situation was already pretty dang ridiculous! "Wh— _what_ are you _talking_ about?"

Pete snorted a bit more before replying, "It's a _loooong_ story Gary, trust me." Even as he braced himself for what was no doubt going to be an involved discussion, Pete felt the loneliness that had been curdling his insides for the last few hours—years, really—start to diminish. _Maybe… I_ don't _have to be alone._

The party had come and gone, and the common room was devoid of everybody except Ivan, who was passed out on the couch. Jimmy and Gary were sitting at the poker table, which had a "pot" of various snacks in the middle of the table. Judging from Jimmy's scowl and Gary's gloating grin, Pete figured Gary was winning. Crumbs, candy wrappers, and marbles were scattered across the floor. Pete wanted to help clean up, he really did, but it _was_ his last day. So he figured he could get away with hanging out with Jimmy and Gary for a little while longer.

Gary's chair came back down from its two-legged leaning against a wall with a thud as he laid out his cards for Jimmy to see. "Read 'em and weep, Jimmy-boy! I take the pot!"

"Maaaaan, FUCK this game!" Jimmy threw his cards down in disgust. As Gary dragged the pile of candy to his side of the table all the while sporting a gloating grin, Jimmy glared at him. "How do you do it? You've gotta be cheating, right?"

Gary wagged his finger at Jimmy. "Ah, ah, ah, Jimmy-boy! A magician never reveals his secrets." Jimmy just groaned, while Pete rolled his eyes.

"He counts the cards, and keeps track of the probabilities based on what's been laid out beforehand." Pete caught the piece of candy that Gary threw at him and elected to ignore the pissy look he was also throwing his way. "Aw, I hate these bubble-gum lollipops." He held it out to Jimmy questioningly, who shrugged and took it.

"Really, Pete; if you could not lay out the proverbial cards before we need to, please?" Gary resumed leaning back in his chair, unwrapping one of the many candies from his pile.

Pete grinned suddenly, and punched the air in victory. "Yess! Twenty-seven! New record!" Jimmy and Gary looked up at Pete from the food they were eating in mild confusion.

When Pete didn't offer any explanation for his outburst, Jimmy looked at Gary. "You know what the fuck he's talkin' about?" Gary's eyes just flicked from Jimmy to Pete, appraising him.

Pete laughed, crossing his arms. "Number of times Gary's called me 'Pete' this time around. Twenty-six was the old record. That was… two loops ago."

Gary chuckled, "What, you keep track of that, Femme Boy?

"That's one of the most useful things to keep track of, actually." Jimmy'd already tuned the conversation out, instead rooting around for more snacks. Pete elected to ignore this. "It's a pretty good way to gauge how much you respect me, which ties into a lot of other stuff in terms of making stuff happen or not happen at the school." Pete gave a _what can you do_ shrug. "You're a pretty influential person, after all." Seeing Gary's blank expression, Pete wasn't sure if he should really be saying all this on the last day he'd get to see these two. He'd only told them the basics of the time loops, and given them enough information to make them believe his situation. He didn't really want to go into the specifics, since he knew he'd eventually miss having somebody to confide in.

"Just how many times have you done this, Petey?" Gary scrutinized Pete, but instead of the usual anger that seemed to accompany Gary not understanding something, he seemed… worried? Concerned? _That's rare._ "You seem to know quite a lot about us. Just how much do you know?" _I guess I do owe them an explanation of what I know._ Jimmy was paying attention again.

Pete shifted so he was sitting up straighter in his chair, rubbing the back of his neck while he talked. "Um. Well… I've lived through twenty-three of these loops, which is about fifteen years." Gary nodded, like he'd been expecting an answer of that nature. Jimmy, however, goggled at Pete.

"Wait, so you're actually, like, thirty years old or something?"

Pete laughed sheepishly. "I guess so, but it doesn't really feel like it?" He shrugged as Jimmy gave him a 'I am totally lost' look. "I mean, I've never lived on my own or anything, so it's not like I'm an adult." _I don't even know if I'll ever get to grow up_ … Pete looked down at the floor, not liking the turn this conversation was taking.

Gary snorted incredulously. "Puh- _lease_ , Petey. I've lived with you for a year, and you're the most sickeningly 'mature' person I know." Pete looked back up, but Gary was challenging Jimmy to another game. _Naturally_.

Jimmy, being Jimmy, accepted. But he kept looking between Gary and Pete, as if expecting them to do something. Gary hummed distractedly as he started to deal cards, leaving Pete to continue staring off into the distance, thinking about mortality.

Finally, Jimmy broke the silence. "You wanna play, Pete?" he dragged his chair around the table so he was closer to Gary, giving Pete a place to occupy. Pete smiled, happy for the distraction.

"Yeah, sure." _Honestly, I've been staring at nothing so much lately I've started to feel like Gary_. Gary loudly voiced his objections, but Pete ignored him and Jimmy just pulled out his slingshot and shot Gary despite his protests. The three played for a while, with Gary constantly needling Jimmy and Pete, Jimmy telling Gary to fuck off in various ways, and Pete pointing out whenever somebody was breaking the rules. It felt natural, and Pete savored the feeling of home these simple interactions inspired. _I don't have long, after all_.

Eventually, all three of them got too tired to even keep track of who was winning, and decided it was time to go to bed. But as they trooped out of the common room, Jimmy snapped his fingers. "Oh shit, that's right, I didn't give you guys my contact info!" He ran into his room and emerged a few seconds later with a sheet of paper. Ripping it into threes, Jimmy handed Gary and Pete a slip of paper. "Here, write down your phone number and address." Pete took the paper indulgently, despite knowing it wouldn't do him any good.

Gary smirked, commenting "Not sure I want you to know where I live, Jim-jam." But he took the paper anyway. Jimmy just rolled his eyes. When they were done, Jimmy punched Gary in the shoulder and promised to call should he need a good therapist recommendation. Gary assured Jimmy that he would also be happy to sell him some of his meds, which Pete didn't find nearly as funny as the other two.

Jimmy then gave Pete an awkward, one-armed hug before quickly saying good night and entering his room. _Huh. That's never happened before_. "Oh **God** ; Femme Boy I swear, you'd better not jump me tonight just 'cuz your boyfriend actually _touched_ you." Pete's smile turned into a laugh as he made his way toward the stairs.

"Sheesh, leave it to you to ruin a perfectly nice moment." Gary was quick to follow Pete up the stairs.

"Hey, it's not ruined if the moment wasn't nice, Petey. That was probably the most uncomfortable hug I've ever witnessed. And I've hugged my parents!" Pete laughed a little, but Gary's callousness was always a little sobering.

"Well, if it'll make you feel better; I promise not to jump you tonight. Happy?" But Gary was, surprisingly, not taking the opportunity to make fun of him. "…What?"

Gary gave him a _look_ , one of those like way back when he'd first entered the loops and would accidently say things he wasn't supposed to know but that Gary always caught, somehow. _That can't be good_ … "You know, we never did finish talking about how much you know…" _Fuuuuck_. Pete didn't look Gary in the eye as he entered their room and started getting ready for bed. _I don't wanna think about this now_. Gary flopped onto his bed, keeping his eyes fixed on Pete. The silence stretched for a few minutes before Gary finally let out an annoyed sigh. " _Ughhh_ , c'mon Petey—we haven't got all night." He stole a glance at his watch before adding, "Well, day, I suppose."

Pete sighed, sitting down on his bed. "Gary… I really _don't_ want to talk about it, okay? I'm tired—we can talk about it tomorrow." _That's not a bad_ loop _hole, ha._

Gary, naturally, looked annoyed. "Why not? What's your problem, hm?" Ignoring him, Pete just started changing into his PJs. Gary sighed. "What, do you want me to _make_ you tell me?"

Pete straightened up from pulling his clothes on, glaring at Gary. _Now that's just uncalled for_. "No." Gary sighed, but apparently he wasn't really in the mood for a spat. He just shrugged and started getting ready for bed himself.

Pete ignored the feeling of disappointment that caused. _There's no point in telling him about it, anyway—he'll just forget by tomorrow._ He sighed as he pulled the covers over his head. _Well… at least I managed to get through one loop without everything going to shit._ That _was_ an achievement; he smiled to himself as he drifted off.

Once again, Pete fell asleep on Saturday, June 2nd, 2007.

Somewhere in the distance, somebody's telling him to get up. Pete tries to block them out, but whoever it is, they're annoyingly persistent. Eventually he figures he should at least try and answer, if only to get them to shut up. He forced out a groggy "Whad'ya want?"

Whoever it was, they sure were cheerful. "Rise and shine, Femme Boy! Today's the day!" Pete shivered, and noticed that his quilt had disappeared. _Wait, quilt?_

Pete opened his eyes a crack, just in time to see Gary drop his quilt on the floor. He was saying "Come _on,_ we're finally leaving this dump of a school; you'll have plenty of time to catch up on your beauty sleep later." _HOLY SHIT!_

Pete bolted upright, wide awake. "What'd you say!?" Gary flinched a bit, but quirked an eyebrow at Pete's reaction.

"'We're finally leaving this dump of a school'? Or 'you can catch up on your beauty sleep later'?" He backed away from Pete as he talked, moving toward his wardrobe. Pete scrambled out of bed, rushing toward the window. "Sheesh Petey, I haven't seen you this eager since you mentioned you'd made out with Lola before." _Holy SHIT the trees still have green leaves!_ Pete stood gazing out the window for a bit, his jaw hanging open a bit, before his face split into a grin as he listened to Gary's voice continue in the background.

It was the start of a new day.

And that's that! Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think could be improved and whether you'd like to see a sequel. (Ahahaha just kidding I already wrote one)

I'd also like to thank my editor, as well as all my friends who've been putting up with me obsessively talking about Bully for the past year. Ya'll are the best.


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